Saturday, January 4, 2014

I applaud Roundy's for making the call to close up their stores early on Monday due to the harsh weather that is expected:

Milwaukee-based grocer Roundy's said Friday that it will close its stores in Wisconsin early on Monday because of the cold weather that is forecast.

"For the safety of our staff and customers, all Pick 'n Save, Copps and Metro Market stores will close at 8 p.m. on Monday, due to the extreme cold temperatures expected in the area," the company said in a statement. Stores will reopen at 6 a.m. Tuesday.

Roundy's has 121 stores and 13,500 employees in Wisconsin.

"Even for the state of Wisconsin, this is really cold weather," said James Hyland, vice president of investor relations for Roundy's.

It's not surprising that governmental entities like the schools to close for the day when it is dangerously cold. It's also not uncommon for smaller companies to close early or just stay closed for the day when it gets this nasty. But it's not often you hear of a major chain to make a decision like that.

I don't see Walmart doing anything like that.

Again, kudos to Roundy's. It's nice to see a bigger company act decently. Then again, they are a union shop, so they've already shown themselves to be decent.